Department of Medicine

Cardiology

Clinical activities in the division include all major aspects of cardiology, including general clinical cardiology, advanced cardiac imaging, interventional cardiology, structural heart disease, electrophysiology, heart failure, vascular medicine, and preventive cardiology.

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Cardiology

Overview

The Division of Cardiology is a large clinical and research division with a mission of patient care, teaching and research excellence. Division faculty staff the 3 major teaching hospitals in Providence: Rhode Island Hospital, Miriam Hospital, and the VA Medical Center. The division also includes the Brown University Health Cardiovascular Research Center, a multidisciplinary basic research facility located near the medical school. Clinical activities in the division include all major aspects of cardiology, including general clinical cardiology, advanced cardiac imaging, interventional cardiology, structural heart disease, electrophysiology, heart failure, vascular medicine, and preventive cardiology. State-of-the-art clinical facilities are available in all locations, and clinical research is actively pursued at each site. The Division of Cardiology is closely linked to the Brown University Health Cardiac Surgery Program, one of the largest in New England. Furthermore, Rhode Island and Miriam Hospitals provide the bulk of emergency care in the state of Rhode Island, with approximately 200,000 emergency visits annually, a large number of whom have acute cardiac illnesses.

The Division sponsors several fellowship programs. The main program is the general cardiology fellowship, which is a 3-year program with an emphasis on training outstanding clinical cardiologists. Our program is highly respected nationally, and our fellows obtain competitive positions all across the country. Sub-subspecialty fellowship programs are offered in interventional cardiology, structural heart disease, clinical cardiac electrophysiology, preventive cardiology, and peripheral vascular medicine. Our cardiology fellows come from the best residency programs across the country, attracted to the unparalleled clinical experience, outstanding faculty, and broad research opportunities at Brown. The large volume of patients with acute cardiac illnesses, driven in part by the busiest emergency department in New England, creates a very unique environment for education and clinical research.

Our full-time cardiology faculty represent the foundation of our strong division. Cardiologists from each of our clinical sites are integrated with our basic science faculty into a single, large, diversified faculty. This arrangement provides in-depth teaching exposure for fellows in the full range of clinical and academic cardiology. Our clinical faculty provide outstanding patient care, are highly experienced, skilled and devoted clinical educators. Many of our faculty members are leaders in their fields, nationally known for their contributions to research and education.

The division continues to grow and remains steadfastly dedicated to providing the best care to our patients, making major contributions to medical research, and educating our patients, community, and the doctors of tomorrow.

About Us

Brian Abbott, MD

Professor of Medicine; Associate Chief of Cardiology, Clinical Excellence and Operations, Lifespan Cardiovascular Institute; Clinician Educator
J. Dawn Abbott, MD

Professor of Medicine; Director, Interventional Cardiology and Structural Fellowship Program
Karen Aspry, MD

Associate Professor of Medicine; Director, Lipid Clinic and Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Program; Clinician Educator
Douglas Burtt, MD

Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine; Medical Director Inpatient Services, Lifespan Cardiovascular Institute
George Charlton, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine; Cardiologist; Clinician Educator
Gaurav Choudhary, MD

Ruth and Paul Levinger Professor of Cardiology; Medical Director, Lifespan Cardiovascular Institute Clinical Trials Office
Thomas Crain, MD

Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine; Cardiologist
Sebhat Erqou, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor of Medicine; Cardiologist
Katharine French, MD, MPH

Assistant Professor of Medicine; Associate Program Director, General Cardiology Fellowship Program; Director, Women’s Cardiac Center; Clinician Educator
Michael Gilson, MD

Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine; Cardiologist
Paul Gordon, MD

Professor of Medicine; Program Director, Structural Heart Disease Fellowship; Interventional Cardiologist; Clinician Educator
Ned Gutman, MD

Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine; Cardiologist
Philip Haines, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine; Director, Structural and Interventional Echocardiography, Rhode Island Hospital; Associate Director, Echocardiography Laboratory, Rhode Island Hospital
Omar Hyder, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine; Director, Vascular Imaging, Lifespan Cardiovascular Institute; Clinician Educator
Tasnim Imran, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine; Cardiologist
Jon Lambrecht, MD

Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine; Cardiologist
Daniel Levine, MD

Clinical Professor of Medicine; Director, Advanced Heart Failure Program
Christopher Luttmann, MD

Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine; Cardiologist
Shafiq Mamdani, MD

Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine; Interventional Cardiologist
George McKendall, MD

Associate Professor of Medicine; Interventional Cardiologist
Alan Morrison, MD, PHD

Associate Professor of Medicine; Cardiologist
Andrew Nowak, MD

Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine; Cardiologist
Yash Patel, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine; Cardiologist
Daniel Philbin, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine; Director of Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology; Clinician Educator
Athena Poppas, MD

Professor of Medicine; Chief, Cardiology Division; Director, Lifespan Cardiovascular Institute; Director, Echocardiography Rhode Island, The Miriam and Newport Hospitals
James Robertson, MD

Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine; Cardiologist
Nishant Shah, MD, MPH

Associate Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice; Associate Professor of Medicine; Cardiologist
Barry Sharaf, MD

Associate Professor of Medicine; Interventional Cardiologist
Christopher Song, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine; Director of Cardiovascular Imaging; Clinician Educator
Peter Soukas, MD

Associate Professor of Medicine; Director, Peripheral Vascular Interventional Laboratory, The Miriam Hospital; Clinician Educator
Philip Stockwell, MD

Associate Professor of Medicine; Associate Director, Lifespan Cardiovascular Institute Heart Failure Center; Clinician Educator
Estelle Torbey, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine; Electrophysiologist/Cardiologist
Cao Tran, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine; Electrophysiologist/Cardiologist
Marilyn Weigner, MD

Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine; Director, Outpatient Services, Lifespan Cardiovascular Institute, Rhode Island, The Miriam and Newport Hospitals
Joseph Weiss, MD, PhD

Associate Professor of Medicine; Cardiologist; Clinician Educator
Michael Wu, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine; Electrophysiologist/Cardiologist; Clinician Educator
Wen-Chih Wu, MD

Professor of Medicine; Professor of Epidemiology; Director, Lifespan Cardiovascular Wellness and Prevention Center
Joseph Wyllie, DO

Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine; Cardiologist

Fellowship Programs

General Cardiology Fellowship

The Brown Fellowship in Cardiovascular Disease is a clinically and academically rigorous program that prepares fellows to function as experts in the field of general clinical cardiology.

Interventional Cardiology Fellowship

The goals of the program are for trainees to become competent in performing a variety of coronary artery interventional procedures including balloon angioplasty and stenting, atherectomy, intracoronary physiology and imaging, and mechanical circulatory support.

Structural Heart Disease Fellowship

The purpose of this program is to prepare fellows to care for patients with acquired or congenital cardiovascular pathologies that involve the major central cardiovascular structures outside of the acquired atherosclerotic coronary and peripheral vascular pathologies.

Electrophysiology Fellowship

Our fellowship offers exposure to a diverse range of pathologies. Our aim is to provide fellows with a rigorous and undiluted training experience.

Vascular & Endovascular Fellowship

This program will provide comprehensive training, not only in the latest advanced interventional techniques, but, as importantly, in the non-invasive vascular laboratory, vascular clinic, and vascular consult services.

Research Programs

Research within the division is focused on advancing clinical and basic science related to cardiovascular disorders. Clinical research is active in all areas including non-invasive imaging, interventional and structural cardiology, vascular, electrophysiology, heart failure, prevention, cardio-oncology and cardio-obstetrics.

Basic science programs operate through the Cardiovascular Research Center (CVRC) and Providence VA Medical Center. CVRC facilities include a sophisticated invasive animal catheterization and electrophysiology laboratory, and a state-of-the-art research facility that is used for the studying of genetically modified mouse and rabbit models of cardiac diseases. Areas of investigation at the CVRC include:

Molecular mechanisms of cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac arrest
Cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and heart failure

The Providence VAMC and Vascular Research Lab include state of art facilities for cellular electrophysiology, molecular biology, small animal imaging, heart and lung physiology lab, and live cell imaging. Areas of investigation at the Providence VAMC include:

Epidemiology, health services and outcomes research in anemia, diabetes and heart failure
Clinical imaging
Preclinical research in pulmonary hypertension and right heart failure

For fellows pursuing careers in academic medicine who seek additional training in research methods, The Brown School of Public Health provides Masters and Certificate programs in Biostatistics, Clinical and Translational Research and Public Health.

Diversity

The Brown Department of Cardiology, in alliance with the Department of Medicine and The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, strives to promote a diverse and inclusive fellowship program and faculty. At Brown, we believe a diverse faculty and training program enhances the services and care we provide to our equally diverse community. Our faculty are committed to supporting a culture of inclusivity and equity in the cardiology training program. Faculty have undergone training through the Bias Reduction in Internal Medicine (BRIM) study – a multicenter educational faculty development study to address identification and reduction in implicit bias.

To learn more about diversity initiatives in the Brown Department of Medicine and The Warren Alpert Medical School, please visit the Internal Medicine Residency site.

Diversity